Detective Under Fire
by CoolKid94
Summary: Conan has always feared Ran finding him out, but he never expected something like this. With his cover blown, Conan must work with his friends and try to re-earn his place at Kogoro's side. The only problem: Ran DOESN'T suspect him of being Shinichi!
1. Attack!

Okay, so I'm back, after a break where I caught up on schoolwork. This new story should be several chapters long, but I likely won't be able to update very frequently for at least the next week due to a fifteen page research paper I need to complete. So sorry about that. :(

In the meantime, please read and review this chapter. Tell me anything you want, just so long as it's constructive. I am also debating whether or not to update/overhaul some of my old stories, so if anybody has any requests, don't hesitate to ask. I am also taking artwork for story covers as well.

Disclaimer: I do not own this series, its characters, or its plot in any way, nor do I intend to make any financial profit from this.

* * *

Chapter One

There were only a few things that genuinely scared Conan. Believe it or not, almost all of these things involved one person: Ran Mouri. Generally, Conan got scared whenever Ran was in danger, but Ran herself was fully capable of scaring him.

Right now, Conan was wishing he was anywhere else. He cringed as Ran continued shouting. "Conan-kun! What's that supposed to mean?"

"I just meant…"

"Well, it's a terrible thing to do! How is Dad supposed to be a detective if you're always knocking him out?"

As the one-sided argument continued, Conan thought back to how the argument has started in the first place.

XXX

"Mouri Detective Agency," said Kogoro, picking up the phone. Conan was lying on the couch reading while Ran cleaned in the back. "Oh, Megure-keibu-dono! What, a murder?" Conan's ears pricked up as Kogoro talked to Megure over the phone, taking notes on a small notepad. "Right, then, I'll be over right away!" Kogoro finished, hanging up and putting on his jacket.

"What happened, Dad?" Ran asked, wringing a rag into a bucket.

"Some guy got murdered over in Haido Park. The police are still looking into contacting his family and reconstructing what happened. He wants me there because…well…"

"What is it, ojisan?" asked Conan, making his face look as curiously innocent as possible.

"I don't think I can tell you," Kogoro sighed. "I'm going to go, but you two stay here. Ran, make sure that kid doesn't follow me." He jabbed a finger at Conan, who scowled. A minute later, the door shut as Kogoro went down the stairs and hailed a taxi.

"I'm going out for a while!" Conan said at once, hoping to follow Kogoro to the scene.

"No way!" Ran snapped, grabbing Conan by the arm and dragging him back to the couch. Then, knowing that Conan would slip out the moment she went back to cleaning, she wedged a chair under the doorknob. It would take more strength than Conan had to un-wedge the chair, so Ran knew he was trapped. Humming to herself, she opened a window and returned to cleaning.

'Great,' thought Conan, looking around. It wasn't the worst place he'd ever been trapped in, but it was the first time that he was hesitant to try to distract his captor. He opted to try persuasion.

"Ran-neechan," he began, looking at the floor in a very cute pose, "I promised to meet my friends this afternoon, but I can't get out the door. Could you move the chair so I can get out?"

"No," said Ran, her usually nice tone completely absent. Conan looked at her, stunned. "Is there something wrong, Ran-neechan?" asked Conan, trying to keep the worry out of his voice.

Ran stopped cleaning and looked away, her bangs obscuring her face. "Dad went to see Araide-sensei the other day," she began, her voice neutral.

"Did he tell ojisan to stop drinking again?" asked Conan.

"It wasn't a normal checkup," said Ran. "Dad wanted to find out why his memory of all the cases he solves is so bad."

'That's unprecedented,' thought Conan, instantly becoming wary. He had a bad feeling about where this was going. Unconsciously, he began to panic.

Ran continued, "During the testing, Araide-sensei gave Dad some anesthesia so he could do some more…intrusive tests without injuring Dad. It didn't work. It took several times the normal amount to finally knock Dad out. Araide-sensei realized that Dad must have developed some kind of immunity to sleeping drugs. Dad started losing his memory around the time _you_ showed up, Conan-kun. What do you think of that?"

"It's probably a coincidence," said Conan, his nervousness appearing in his voice clear as day.

"No, it's not!" said Ran loudly, stamping her foot. For the first time, she looked him right in the eyes. "What do you have to say for yourself, Conan-kun?"

"Well, I think someone might have had too much to drink that day," said Conan, unconsciously edging away.

"Conan-kun! What's that supposed to mean?"

"I just meant…"

"Well, it's a terrible thing to do! How is Dad supposed to be a detective if you're always knocking him out?"

By this point, Ran was beginning to completely lose it in her anger, her eyes locking on Conan . Conan knew he'd have to come up with some trick to explain away Kogoro's lack of memory, but now wasn't the time. With Ran not thinking straight, Conan bolted, jumping out the open window and inflating a soccer ball from his belt to use as a cushion. He hit the ground running, the sound of Ran's yelling still ringing in his ears.

XXX

With nowhere really to go, Conan wandered the streets, heading for Prof. Agasa's house. It was the only place he could think to go.

When Conan finally reached the house, he went right up and rang the doorbell. He heard some shuffling feet inside before the door cracked open and a small girl peeked out. "What, Kudo-kun?" Haibara asked. "Agasa-hakase is out, so there isn't really a reason for you to be here.

"Just let me in and I'll explain," said Conan hastily, surprising Haibara. Sensing something to do with the Black Organization, she quickly unchained the door and let him in.

"So what is it?" she asked, offering him a drink and looking at him with a gaze that could melt glass.

"It's Ran again. She suspects."

Haibara rolled her eyes in irritation. "So you thought you'd have one of us call as you in your adult form to throw her off. Or maybe you want some of the antidote? Well, the answer is NO. Knowing you, you'll just waste it again."

"Actually, Haibara, it's not that," said Conan, staring into his drink. "Ran suspects Edogawa Conan of being Sleeping Kogoro, not Kudo Shinichi. She hasn't put two and two together this time. I had to run to avoid getting my head smashed in when she confronted me about it."

"Tell me everything, then," said Haibara, gesturing towards a couch. Conan took a seat and quickly relayed what has just occurred. "So it was the sleeping darts that were the trigger this time, huh? Well, those darts _are_ pretty potent, so I suppose it was inevitable that you'd eventually get found out. Unfortunately, that puts us in a perilous position. Mouri-tantei's agency is the perfect front for leads on _them_, but there's no point in having a front if it's unusable."

"Tell me you have an idea for how to fix this," said Conan.

"I might have an idea," said Haibara vaguely, a smirk slowly etching across her face. She turned away from Conan slightly, so he could only see part of her face. "It's not an idea I particularly enjoy, though. What we'll have to do is engineer a situation where Mouri-tantei falls asleep and solves the case without you being around."

"How am I supposed to do that? If I'm not around, there's no reason for Sleeping Kogoro to appear!"

Haibara placed her mug on the table and stood up. Turning to Conan, she commanded, "Go get some paper, Kudo-kun. We've got some planning to do."

XXX

_Haido Park – Later That Day_

Megure and Takagi were getting absolutely nowhere with the case. Kogoro had shown up, taken a brief glance at the evidence, and promptly concluded that the murder was a suicide, completely disregarding the odd evidence that had been collected.

"Where's Conan-kun?" Takagi had asked once the investigation started grinding to a halt.

"I'm not bringing the kid along anymore," Kogoro had stated quietly, refusing to elaborate.

Now, an hour later, the three suspects, all joggers who had been in the park at the time of the murder, were getting impatient. With no hard evidence, Megure was about to be forced to let them go, despite his better judgment. Then they all heard a noise that made both Megure and Kogoro cringe.

"What's going on?" asked Genta loudly.

"Look here!" Kogoro shouted at the Detective Boys. "This is a crime scene; you can't just barge in here!"

'No Conan-kun, huh?' thought Takagi. Indeed, it was just Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, Genta, and Haibara who were there; Conan was nowhere to be found. Oddly, Haibara was wearing a pair of Conan's glasses, but all the adults assumed it was a stupid kiddy fashion and paid it no attention.

"Never mind that; why do you all think it's a suicide?" asked Haibara loudly, cutting across the conversation.

"How do you know what we came up with?" asked Megure.

"I know because this is clearly a murder and you all always get the answer wrong until Mouri-tantei takes pity on you and pretends to go to sleep," said Haibara quickly, in complete neutrality, stunning the police officers. "What's up with that money?" she asked, pointing to where some money had been identified as being a part of the scene.

"He probably threw it away when he decided to commit suicide," said Kogoro blandly, still angry over the 'useless' remark.

"But wouldn't that mean this is a robbery?" asked Mitsuhiko, piping up.

"No way!" shouted Kogoro, grinning evilly. "Who just goes and robs someone random in the middle of the day? Besides, if it _was_ a robbery, then why didn't they take all the money?"

"Maybe they were after something specific," Ayumi suggested. "Maybe he had a receipt or something in his wallet. That's where my dad keeps _his_ receipts."

Megure and Takagi looked at each other with identical 'I told you so' looks while Kogoro looked stunned. Takagi instantly pulled out his notebook and flipped to where they had interviewed the suspects. Haibara tugged on his pants leg, and he bent down to let her see. Haibara looked at it a minute before going away.

Kogoro did not expect receiving the usual prick as he fell asleep from the dart that came a minute later. Right before he lost consciousness, he spun around, looking for Conan, but he was nowhere to be found.

* * *

I'm pretty sure Haibara and Conan's trick is pretty obvious, but if not, I'll explain it next chapter, along with the details of the robbery-murder itself. As I've stated before, please review this chapter and tell me if it's worth continuing or not. Also let me know about the previous story updates. ~CK94

Next up: Kogoro solves the case, but Conan still isn't in the clear!


	2. Nice Ran, Mad Kogoro

After two months of absolutely nothing, here's chapter two. I've been pretty bummed out lately because I suck at math, so after getting a D in Pre-Cal and a D in Chem 1, I've been frantically trying to keep my scholarships, to no avail. Now I have to transfer back to my local university where I don't have to pay for a room. So yeah. :P

But you don't care about my rambling, do you? ;)

I've had the majority of this chapter planned in my head for while, but I only just got up the willpower to finish it off. I think you'll enjoy it, if only for the comic relief. (haha)

Now to address several questions brought up in the comments:

1. All pairings in the story are canon for now. I don't know yet if that will change.

2. In a world where Ran is actually smart, she probably knows enough about Conan's gadgets that she expect him to pull crazy stunts. If she does confront him, it's off-screen.

* * *

Chapter Two

"It came!" Takagi exclaimed as Kogoro slumped onto a nearby bench.

"It's Sleeping Kogoro!" the three kids shouted at once, instantly shushing each other to hear what Kogoro had to say. No one noticed Haibara putting the lid down on her watch and getting behind him.

"Sorry, but what that kid said made me realize just how stupid we've all become, Megure-keibu-dono," said Kogoro.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Megure, getting angry.

"Just that the trick is much simpler that we're making it," said Kogoro.

"You're acting weird, Mouri-san," said Takagi, laughing a bit.

"Who knew that the famous Sleeping Kogoro had a habit of talking like a teenage girl?" a suspect remarked sarcastically, which made the other two suspects giggle. All three were college-aged women of average weight who had been in the park jogging at six in the morning when the body had been found. They also had personal history with the victim, who had been a jerk and had also dated each of them at different times in the past two years.

"Well, you three certainly act like teenage girls. How old are you, nineteen?"

"Thanks, but I'm twenty-one," another girl snapped. The girls started conversing amongst themselves, ignoring Kogoro completely.

"HEY!" Megure shouted, making all three girls flinch. "This is a murder investigation, so please hush up and let the man talk!" He nodded at Kogoro, who promptly continued speaking.

"See, I say you three act like teenage girls because the evidence exists that all three of you conspired to kill this man!"

The girls looked at him in disbelief. "Oi oi, how can all three be the culprit?" asked Megure. "We've already confirmed that the time of death was 2 AM and two of these young women have alibis for that time."

"Takagi-keiji! How was the body initially discovered?"

Takagi jumped before responding, "The three girls were jogging together and saw his wallet sticking out from under this bush. When they looked behind the bush, they saw him dead from cyanide poisoning."

"What time was that?"

"The body was found at eight this morning."

"Now that's pretty peculiar, considering that sunrise is at 5:30 this time of year and this is a busy park. How come no early morning joggers found the corpse? If they saw a wallet lying in plain sight, most people would've either stolen the wallet or given it to the police. That leads me to one conclusion: the wallet was planted there _after_ the joggers passed by but _before_ the girls arrived. What's more likely though is that the girls planted the wallet when they pretended to discover the body."

"That's all well and good, but where's the _proof_?" asked the third girl, taking out her makeup and applying some to her face.

"Yeah, how do you know people jog through here in the morning?" asked the second, rolling her eyes.

The first finished, "Even if someone did jog through here, they probably didn't see the wallet, which is pretty likely; the rising sun casts long shadows."

"Oi, oi, Mouri-kun," said Megure, looking at Kogoro. "You'd better have proof…"

"Oh, I do have proof," said Kogoro, getting everyone's attention. "It's the wallet. It's true that a black wallet could easily have been hidden in shadow. It's also likely that even if the wallet _had_ been planted by one or all of the three, that person would have worn gloves. However, the three immediately made a ruckus and called the police. Since they knew they would be searched by the police, and since possessing rubber gloves in the middle of summer would be too conspicuous, they probably didn't wear gloves like you would expect.

"What did they wear?" asked Genta loudly, breaking the monologue.

"You should still find it on their fingertips: biodegradable glue residue."

"Glue?" asked Megure in surprise.

"Of course!" said Takagi. "Glue can be peeled off and dropped in the grass, where it won't be found because it's clear!"

"Would you mind if forensics took a look at your fingers?" asked Megure, addressing the three girls, who had frozen upon hearing Kogoro's deduction. Megure's voice jarred them back to their senses.

"I suppose so," said the first girl, pulling out her phone and beginning to text. You won't find anything, though.

"That's why we'll be inspecting all of you," said Megure, motioning to several police offices to escort the women away. The other two women both received a text simultaneously as the first put away her phone. Then, with no warning, all three split up and ran off into the crowd that had gathered.

There was instant uproar. The police ran into the crowd as well, pushing and shoving bystanders out of the way. There was a loud bang as some nearby high schoolers set off some fireworks, throwing the crowd into even more of a panic. The combination of panicked gawkers, determined police, and annoying reporters made the entire situation unbearable. The three kids hid under Kogoro's bench to escape being trampled.

The noise woke up Kogoro Mouri from his sleep. When he realized what had happened, he sat bolt upright and instantly began scanning the park for a certain bespectacled kid. Haibara took the chance and dashed away into some bushes before he turned around, leaving him more confused than ever. Then he realized that the kids were under the bench, and he started yelling at them, only adding to the noise.

XXX

"I am NOT doing that again," said Haibara once a little while later, once the women had been caught and everyone had left. She had met up with Conan near some fountains and just explained what had happened.

"You did a fine job," said Conan, taking his glasses back from Haibara and putting them back on. "Granted, I never expected the girls to run, but they didn't get far. They'll probably even get some bonus time for starting a riot, too. Be glad I was relaying instructions to you through the glasses, Haibara," he added, grinning.

"You think I'm incompetent?" she asked, glaring at him.

"Just that you're inexperienced," he said, taking the hint and backing down. "That was the first time in a while, though, that all the suspects were involved in murdering the guy. Usually one suspect plants evidence to incriminate another, or disguises the murder as a suicide."

"I'm out of here," said Haibara, nodding behind Conan and then walking away. Conan looked around and saw, to his horror, Ran converging on him. It would look too suspicious to run, so he braced for her arrival.

"I heard Dad solved a case again," Ran began, looking innocently down at Conan. Conan had seen that look many times on her face during her karate matches, so he tensed, preparing to flee.

"That's good," said Conan warily, eyeing her.

"Look, I'm sorry about what happened earlier. According to Dad, you weren't even around when he solved the case this time. How about we put all this behind us? I'll make curry tonight!"

"Sounds good!" said Conan, taking her outstretched hand and walking away with her. It was only when Ran began humming that he was able to begin to relax.

XXX

Kogoro sat at the bar, a mug of beer standing in front of him. Uncharacteristically for him, however, he hadn't touched it. He was too busy thinking to even notice how beautiful the bartender was or that she was attempting to flirt with him.

The subject on Kogoro's mind was Conan. Normally he would've dropped something like this long ago, but something didn't sit right with him, something he couldn't really explain. It was like he was on the verge of discovering a hidden secret about himself that the kid had the key to. He'd been aware for a while that the kid was odd and that he always got in his way at crime scenes. He also knew that he had also started having memory loss around the time Conan had come to stay with him and Ran.

Thinking about it, Kogoro knew there was only one thing he could do to put his mind to rest. He loathed the idea, but it was the only course of action he could take without letting Conan or Ran potentially find out about it. "Excuse me, may I have my coat?" he asked the bartender, who was happy to oblige.

He sighed, wondering if he was making a wise choice or not, before dialing the number in his phone.

"Gunma Police, how may I help you?" a voice said from the other end, sounding a bit too annoying for Kogoro's taste.

"It's Mouri," said Kogoro, bracing himself.

"Oh, Mouri-san!" said Yamamura, brightening at once. "What's the problem? Is it a case?" His voice suddenly turned shifty.

"Something like that. I need some assistance about someone I'm investigating."

"Anything for you, Mouri-san!" said Yamamura happily. "Who is it?"

"I need everything you know about Edogawa Conan-kun."

* * *

And so the most unlikely alliance was formed. Yamamura is a character that I haven't really touched on much in my fiction, so I thought I'd show him the sunlight for once, even though he's super annoying and I'll probably write him out before long.

I'm planning to have this run to at least five chapters, likely more. If anybody wants to submit story ideas, feel free to tell me in the comments or PM me and I'll see what I can do. I still don't know if I should make the ending return to the status quo or have Ran and/or Kogoro find out for certain. So send me your ideas and looks forward to the next part!


	3. Suspicious Fake Detective

I was quite surprised by how undivided you guys were over Yamamura appearing. Some people didn't like it, some people thought it might be interesting, and others spammed the PM telling me how much of a bad idea it was. So I compromised. Everybody is still in character, too, which is hilarious. The lag between updates is a combination of work, school, and writing my book. So yeah. :P

* * *

Chapter Three

Inspector Yamamura was only too happy to assist Kogoro in his investigation. To him, spying on Conan was the thrill of a lifetime. He was only too happy to provide Kogoro with damaging information. "Well, to start off, the first time I met him wasn't with you. It was when he was with his mother, maybe about half a year ago? Oh, and she was a beauty, too!"

Kogoro started. He'd left the bar and was sitting in a park, listening to Yamamura's rants. However, he himself had met Conan's 'mother', and was rather surprised by Yamamura's description. "She didn't seem that beautiful when I met her," he muttered.

"And here I thought you had perfect taste in women," said Yamamura, affronted. "It was because of her that I even became a police detective to begin with, you know! Are you seriously telling me you don't think the actress Fujimine Yukiko is pretty?"

That took Kogoro aback. "What are you saying? This is absurd; I'm hanging up." Yamamura protested, but Kogoro was through with his nonsense.

XXX

The next day, Conan woke up to find that Kogoro wasn't in his bed. 'I bet he was out playing mahjong all night again,' he thought to himself. He was too used to it happening to care. He was therefore surprised when he went to get breakfast and found Kogoro sitting at the table, wide awake.

Kogoro was busy reading a newspaper, apparently not paying Conan any attention, which Conan was fine with. He could really go without getting hit on the head once in a while.

"Good morning, Conan-kun!" said Ran brightly, making both guys jump. She gave each of them a plate of food before sitting down with one of her own. "Isn't it a beautiful day?" she asked, not noticing the tension in the air. Both Kogoro and Conan were suspicious of each other, which made it really chilly between them.

The phone ringing broke the tension. Before Ran could get up, Kogoro sprang up and grabbed the receiver. He was whispering into it, so the two kids couldn't hear a thing. Once Kogoro had hung up, he ran out the door, his breakfast forgotten. 'What's up with him?' Conan thought. He came up with many solutions, each more improbable than the last.

XXX

At school, Kogoro's mysterious behavior continued to bother Conan. Ayumi had to practically yell at him to get his attention. "Are you OK, Conan-kun?"

"Oh, I'm OK," he assured her. "I was just thinking."

"Is it a case?" Genta interjected loudly, looking eager.

"It has to be," Mitsuhiko deduced. "The only thing that distracts Conan like this is a case."

Haibara looked on, amused. "They _could_ be helpful, you know," she told Conan in an undertone.

"Oh, all right," said Conan, giving in. "Occhan was acting weird this morning, and he's been avoiding me for the last couple of days."

The three kids instantly began brainstorming, as per the usual. "Wouldn't this mean he's up to something?" Mitsuhiko suggested.

"Maybe he's having an affair," Genta offered. "Or he found a place that serves good eel." He looked up dreamily.

"Again with the eel, Genta-kun?" said Ayumi, exasperated. "Well, we should investigate, right? If Conan-kun can't do it himself, that means we can show him up!"

The thought of showing Conan up instantly convinced the two boys to give it their all. "Let's go!"

"What do you think, Ai-chan?" asked Ayumi.

"I guess I'll help you," said Haibara. "Just remember, you all have to take responsibility if you get caught."

"Yes, ma'am," they all said sulkily.

'Oi oi, is this really happening?' Conan thought, watching the three kids forming up a plan.

XXX

Kisaki Eri was in her office reviewing some court documents when her secretary buzzed her. "Kisaki-sensei, you have a visitor."

"Who is it?" asked Eri, not glancing up.

"Your husband. Are you busy?"

That got Eri's attention. Kogoro never visited her at work, and he hadn't called her to say he was coming. "Send him in, Kuriyama-san," she said, putting the documents away and rubbing her eyes.

Kogoro kept glancing over his shoulder and he came in, looking distinctly rattled. "I need help, Eri," he said as he shut the door.

"Dear, what's wrong?" she asked concerned. She jumped up and helped him into a chair.

Kogoro paused a moment before saying, "It's that darn kid again."

"Conan-kun?"

"I think he's responsible for my memory loss."

"Memory loss?" Eri was more confused than ever now, but she, as a lawyer, was trained to not show emotion in front of her clients.

"Ever since that kid showed up, every time I solve a case, I lose my memory of actually solving it. At first, I thought it was a fluke, but after talking to Araide-sensei and realizing that I'm largely immune to sleeping pills and stuff like it, I started realizing the truth. That kid is solving my cases for me."

Under any other circumstances, Eri would've thought he was crazy, but with him acting so paranoid, and since he was clearly NOT drunk out of his mind, she took pity on him. "Do you have any proof?"

"I remembered Yamamura-keibu from Gunma once mentioned that he'd have occasional memory loss too, so I called him this morning and confirmed. It was only when the brat was around, and whenever I _wasn't_."

"Come to think of it," Eri remembered, "the time Ran and Sonoko-chan had to land that airplane, I was asleep for the entire descent. Then Ran said that my testimony had helped identify the criminal, but I don't remember doing anything like that…"

They were suddenly interrupted by a loud commotion coming from the exterior office. Eri got up to see what was going on. "You kids!" Eri exclaimed once she saw that all of Conan's friends, without Conan, were badgering her secretary, Kuriyama Midori, about Kogoro's location.

It took a while to get rid of the kids. Genta kept insinuating something was happening between Eri and Kogoro in Eri's office, which shocked both women and Haibara, who then took Eri's side in getting the other three kids out. Ten minutes later, Eri slammed the door to her office and collapsed in her chair, where her cat Goro jumped in her lap. "See what I mean?" Kogoro asked, trying really hard not to panic. "Those kids have it in for me, I know it!"

"Calm down, dear," said Eri, her tiredness ebbing away as the pet the cat. "I'll help you get to the bottom of this. It's probably just a misunderstanding."

"Eri, thank you," said Kogoro. He made a hasty exit, still looking around like a hunted animal.

XXX

"He's definitely suspicious," said Mitsuhiko. The four kids had left the building, but had staked out the entrance to keep an eye on Kogoro. They'd been following him since they got out of school, although they hadn't really liked getting yelled at by Eri.

"Isn't she his wife, though?" asked Ayumi.

"But they're separated," reminded Mitsuhiko.

"And they always argue!" added Genta. Haibara simply stood back, bored.

The kids were interrupted by Kogoro leaving the building. He looked both ways before briskly walking away. The four kids followed, but took great care to make sure they were hiding whenever he glanced back, which was frequently. Haibara noticed at once that whenever Kogoro passed cute girls, he would _not_ look at them, which indicated he was really scared about something.

Kogoro's destination, it turned out, was somewhat off the beaten path. He entered the back door of an old factory complex, before disappearing inside.

"Let's follow him!" said Genta, running forward and putting his hand on the handle.

"Don't do it," Haibara commanded, making the other three flinch. "We don't know the situation on the other side of the door. He could even have pretended to have business but might instead by listening at the door."

"What about that window?" asked Ayumi. She was pointing at a small window near the door. It was too high for any of them to see through.

"Give me a boost, Genta-kun," said Mitsuhiko, running over to the window. Genta eagerly helped out.

"Mitsuhiko-kun, what do you see?" asked Ayumi excitedly.

"He's in there with someone," Mitsuhiko reported. "I can't see who the other guy is; there's too much of a glare on the window." He shifted his viewing angle, but suddenly said, panicked, "He's about to leave. Hide!"

Well, that sent both Ayumi and Genta into a panic. Genta dropped Mitsuhiko on the ground, and the two boys ran and hid behind a vending machine. Haibara grabbed Ayumi and pulled her along with them.

"Thanks for everything!" said Kogoro as he opened the door. "How about I buy you a drink sometime?"

"He's cheerful," Ayumi noted. Kogoro walked off in the other direction, but the other man must have left through another exit, because they never saw him.

Kogoro's route was taking him back towards the Detective Agency, but he made a detour through Beika Park to use the public restrooms.

"What was that for?" asked Mitsuhiko once Kogoro had exited ten minutes later. "That was way too long for a normal bathroom break."

"Maybe he _really_ had to go," suggested Genta.

"Genta-kun, you're so vulgar!" Ayumi whined.

"He put something in his pocket," said Haibara, breaking off the conversation. All three kids looked at Kogoro. "Kojima-kun, go check the trash can in the men's toilet," Haibara commanded. Genta ran off at once, followed by Mitsuhiko.

"Shouldn't we follow him?" Ayumi asked, watching Kogoro walk away.

"Let's see what the guys find, first, OK?" said Haibara, smiling gently.

"OK!" said Ayumi happily. The girls sat down on a nearby wall to wait.

It wasn't long before Mitsuhiko and Genta emerged, looking disgusted. "Some hobo mistook the trash can for the toilet, so it was _nasty_," said Genta, holding his nose.

"But we did find _this_," said Mitsuhiko. He pulled an empty brown paper bag out of pocket and showed them. "I saw Mouri-tantei put the same bag in his pocket."

Haibara took the bag and looked it over, but couldn't find anything of note. "I wonder if Edogawa-kun could find something useful," she muttered, loud enough for the kids to hear. The three kids looked at each, sporting identical mischievous grins.

Then Genta snatched the bag back. "We can do this ourselves, Haibara," he said loudly. Mitsuhiko took the bag back and, before she could say anything, the three kids had run off.

'Kudo-kun, I do _not_ envy you," she thought to herself, slightly irritated.

* * *

I don't find the kids nearly as annoying as much people in the fanbase, which is why they appear so often in my stories. Plus, I enjoy exploring Haibara's personality. Before anyone calls me out for how the KogoroXEri scene is OOC, there IS precedent. If you've seen the tenth movie, it's Eri's only appearance in it. Though I intend for Eri to get more screen time later. And maybe Yamamura XD.

BTW the mention of Yamamura's memory loss comes from Movie 13.

Next up, another murder. And Kogoro's paranoia actually makes him smart for once. :D


End file.
